How can I specify a branch/tag when adding a Git submodule?

Question

How does git submodule add -b work?

After adding a submodule with a specific branch, a new cloned repository (after git submodule update --init

Answer 1

I have this in my .gitconfig file. It is still a draft, but proved useful as of now. It helps me to always reattach the submodules to their branch.

[alias]

######################
#
#Submodules aliases
#
######################


#git sm-trackbranch : places all submodules on their respective branch specified in .gitmodules
#This works if submodules are configured to track a branch, i.e if .gitmodules looks like :
#[submodule "my-submodule"]
#   path = my-submodule
#   url = git@wherever.you.like/my-submodule.git
#   branch = my-branch
sm-trackbranch = "! git submodule foreach -q --recursive 'branch=\"$(git config -f $toplevel/.gitmodules submodule.$name.branch)\"; git checkout $branch'"

#sm-pullrebase :
# - pull --rebase on the master repo
# - sm-trackbranch on every submodule
# - pull --rebase on each submodule
#
# Important note :
#- have a clean master repo and subrepos before doing this !
#- this is *not* equivalent to getting the last committed 
#  master repo + its submodules: if some submodules are tracking branches 
#  that have evolved since the last commit in the master repo,
#  they will be using those more recent commits !
#
#  (Note : On the contrary, git submodule update will stick 
#to the last committed SHA1 in the master repo)
#
sm-pullrebase = "! git pull --rebase; git submodule update; git sm-trackbranch ; git submodule foreach 'git pull --rebase' "

# git sm-diff will diff the master repo *and* its submodules
sm-diff = "! git diff && git submodule foreach 'git diff' "

#git sm-push will ask to push also submodules
sm-push = push --recurse-submodules=on-demand

#git alias : list all aliases
#useful in order to learn git syntax
alias = "!git config -l | grep alias | cut -c 7-"